Well, back home from USA east-coast tour. And we just played a weird morning gig at Silent Barn in Brooklyn, part of their 24-hour gig program.
It was an interesting tour, some good turnouts in unexpected places, but also some smaller turnouts in places where we used to have better shows. The new songs are sounding good, we're going to do some recording here in NYC on Wednesday, maybe it'll be the start of a new album, or at least a way to record these songs before we forget them.
And I'm trying to learn whether there's any relationship between the number of people who say they are going to a gig on Facebook and the number of people who actually go to the show! Maybe there's some way to make sense of it.
Here's the way it turned out for these USA dates!

1) TUES April 25 - Baltimore, MD - Reverb

Only 8 tickets sold; usually in Baltimore we have 40-70 fans, this was a real disappointing start to the tour! Maybe people just don't like this venue? But things got better later in the tour.
FB said: “30 Went · 49 Interested”

2) WED April 26 - Richmond, VA - Sound of Music

51 tickets sold.
FB said: “42 Went · 83 Interested”

3) THURS April 27 - Durham, NC - The Pinhook

56 tickets sold;
FB said: “41 Went · 82 Interested”

4) FRI April 28 - Asheville, NC - Mothlight

61 tickets sold;
FB said: “38 Went · 51 Interested”

5) SAT April 29 -Atlanta, GA - Kavarna

51 tickets sold;
FB said: “31 Went · 53 Interested”

6) SUN April 30 - Orlando, FL - Will’s Pub

76 tickets sold;
FB said: “76 Went · 107 Interested”

7) MON May 1 - Miami, FL - Sweet Liberty

FREE show, so there was no way to know how many folks were there specifically to see us. Like 30 maybe?
FB said: 36 Went · 27 Interested

TUES May 2 - Gainesville, FL - The Atlantic

79 tickets sold; this was the biggest show, a nice surprise because it was our first real headlining gig in Gainesville, I thought it might be an empty show!
FB said: “76 Went · 155 Interested”

9) WED May 3 - Rock Hill, SC - The Courtroom

30 tickets sold; smallest show of the tour other than Baltimore; this was also a big come-down from 100 tickets sold the last time I'd played here in 2015.
FB said: “37 Went · 49 Interested”

10) THURS May 4 - Charlottesville VA - Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar

43 tickets sold;
FB said: “36 WENT, 51 INTERESTED”

11) FRI May 5 - Philadelphia PA- Bourbon & Branch

53 tickets sold; this was a little bit of a let-down since we had 70 tickets sold at our last Philly gig, and those tickets were even $4 more expensive than these!
FB said: “39 Went · 71 Interested”

Strange to notice the shows with the biggest ticket sales (Orlando and Gainesville) were also the shows with the most accurate Facebook prediction of attendance. I wonder if there's any over-all pattern I can figure out, if I continue to keep track of these things. Maybe it's just completely random and chaotic and has no meaning. Of course there are many people who don't use the Facebook gig-event pages at all; and there are some other people who click that they are "going" to an event, even though they live on the other side of the world. Bass-player Mem says it's always better to click "going" to an event because it gets more people excited about the show if they see more people have clicked that they're going.
Maybe I need to stop thinking about ANY of this stuff and just write new songs instead!!

Glad to hear the news of a successful tour. Those seem like small numbers, whenever you play in Cardiff the room is packed! Maybe they're smaller places than I thought. I don't have facebook so would never put myself down as going anywhere on there. I expect there are other people that don't want the world to know where they are and what they're doing and their data sold and sold forever.
I've been having a difficult time and have been quiet on here. Mostly reading. And my house is on the market so that's stressful, as well as hell at work.
Looking forward to hearing new music whenever it turns up x_________________The only difference between our secrets is whether we allow them to evolve into tales of heroism or fear.

That's quite intersting, i guess most of these social networks are people faking their lifes, posting good looking filtered photos, having a dense, intense life etc, so i guess it makes sense that they click that they're coming to a show even knowing they got no intention to go, i don't understand whypeople do that though, i mean i wouldn't do it and i guess that's why i don't use facebook. If i'd lick that i'm coming you could be sure that i'm really intending to come.

It's coolto try to find the pattern for this all mistery, keep us posted if you got it more figured out, i'll think about it too._________________http://uberaffe.bandcamp.com

Fascinating stuff Jeff. Will be of interest to historians in the distant future no-doubt.

Your UK shows that I've seen have been better attended - so I'm a bit surprised at the low numbers. Economics has play a role unfortunately. We've all got to eat, after all. I hope the economics of coming to the UK are still favourable, after taking into account the cost of flights etc. In any case, I hope to see you back on these shores soon.

As a fan, on the one-hand I'm generally surprised that you're not selling out big venues ('cos its always a good show), but on the other hand the smaller venues have a better atmosphere and its nice to chat with the band afterwards. There are several bands' I'd like to see again but they now play big venues its generally not an enjoyable experience. I guess whats good for the band (finances), is not necessarily better for the fan.

I saw on the news that AmazonPrime are starting to screen live music shows. The first one is Blondie. Maybe that's the way its going...go and see a live show from the comfort of your own sofa.

What are your thoughts on the make-up of your audiences? I notice that there's generally an even mix of male and female audience members which is good. I remember reading an autobiography by Zoot Horn Rollo and I recall that CB&The Magic Band were a bit concerned and consciously tried to extend their appeal to more than just the male Maths PhD students that were attending their gigs.

It reminds me of the time I saw a comedian and he scored the audience at the end of the gig. It was a nice twist..

I notice that the older the artists I am seeing get the older the audience. When I was a teenager I went out a lot to see bands and now I go along and they seem to be full of older men. Lots of bad beards. Although there is a lot of them in general as I walk the streets. x_________________The only difference between our secrets is whether we allow them to evolve into tales of heroism or fear.

THanks Scott!
Dazman, yeah i think it seems to be mixed audiences mostly... male and female, though I think when I'm in UK/Europe there's more of an age mix of young and old... in the USA there's a little bit of an age mix, but it's mostly a regular gig-going crowd, like 20s I guess, and of course it's also sometimes hard to find all-ages venues.
In the book I'm reading about the LA punk band The Germs they say there was a club in LA that would only let people in if they had ID showing they were UNDER 21 or something like that! Pretty funny. Makes for a cool youth scene I guess.

Age discrimination kind of works if you have insurance that needs adults only to be present, or for the sale of alcohol, but it's sweet too that young people can go out and feel safe. Some behaviour of audience members at gigs has been horrendous that I have witnessed, the young deserve a space to enjoy it with less of that going on. They tend to get money from parents too so often come to gigs quite flush and spend a lot. My ex played an all ages gig and had to pour beer into cola cans to drink it because no one was allowed to be seen with alcohol in the bands. x_________________The only difference between our secrets is whether we allow them to evolve into tales of heroism or fear.

(By the way, if people are wondering why there's no gig in Glasgow in September... it's because Jeffrey Lewis & Los Bolts are already playing at Saramago in Glasgow on October 9th, and the Burning Hell are already playing at the Hug and Pint in Glasgow on November 21st!)

Wow that's a pretty comprehensive tour of Scotland and some pretty remote places! I'd never even heard of Knoydart, Not exactly the sort of tour i'd expect announced after concerns about low attendances but you'll certainly see some beautiful places. I think I'll try and get along to the Stirling show if I can work out how to buy tickets.

Wow! Knoydart is a *really* out-of-the-way place. I've been there once, about 15 years ago. Its the kind of place you need to plan your visit carefully as there are irregular and few transport links. I got there on the tourist boat, as there was (is, I believe) no road access. It was just a one-pub and one-post office community. Quite a few of the visitors to the pub had arrived on their own boats which were moored close by. I remember that the food and beer were excellent though. It helped if you like eating lamb as I vaguely recall most of the dishes were lamb-based. Still, a great place to visit.